Busnois: Missa O Crux Lignum

Antoine Busnois
Missa O Crux Lignum
Orlando Consort

ClassicsToday rating 10/10.

In 1993, the ensemble Pomerium offered a similar program of works by Antoine Busnois (or, Busnoys), a composer then virtually unknown to most listeners. The 15th-century Burgundian musician wrote in both sacred and secular forms, and two masses, eight motets, and several dozen songs are among his surviving works. What makes Busnois so special is his melodic facility and rhythmic interest, especially notable in the chansons, which are full of lively syncopation and catchy phrasing, and his affinity for unlabored, smoothly flowing counterpoint in the sacred settings, which usually are based on a cantus firmus chant melody. The four voices of the Orlando Consort--countertenor, two tenors, and baritone--obtain what we must assume is a reasonably authentic period sound, and the singers take care to preserve the individuality of each voice rather than try for the kind of pure, uniform timbre characteristic of some other similar groups, such as the Hilliard Ensemble.

My only reservation here is that Robert Harre-Jones' countertenor is so prominent relative to the other voices, and Busnois' music is so texturally undifferentiated that over the course of several tracks the ear wants either a rest or something more varied in terms of voicing or tone quality. In some respects, I prefer Pomerium's warmer, more refined, mixed-voices realization, although their recording is no longer available from the now-defunct Dorian label. Nevertheless, you can't fault these performances, which capitalize on the edgy rhythms in the chansons and make the most of the artful opposition of the countrapuntal lines in the Mass--and you certainly have to be happy with the clear, detailed, vibrant sound, perfectly captured at St. Mary's Parish Church in Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. [1/26/2005]

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Albicastro: 12 Concerti a 4 Op.7 - Collegium Marianum, Coll. 1704

Henrico Albicastro
12 Concerti a Quattro Op.7
Collegium Marianum, Collegium 1704
Pan Classics 10124

This Czech Republic production, recorded in 2000 in the Dvořák Hall of Prague’s Rudolfinum, combines the forces of two Czech period-instruments ensembles-Collegium Marianum and Collegium 1704, which, according to the credits, frequently collaborate on larger projects.

Stylistically, Giovanni Henrico (Henricus) Albicastro (c. 1660–1730) falls roughly into the period midway between Corelli and Vivaldi, except that he wasn’t Italian. The name was made up, a nom de plume for Johann Heinrich von Weissenburg. Nobody seems to know for sure or to agree on exactly when he was born or died (some saying as late as 1738) or, for that matter where. Most sources, including Thomas Krümpelmann’s booklet note, place Albicastro’s birth in Switzerland. Others say the Netherlands, and at least one article I came across insists on Bavaria, even naming the village of Pappenheim, as Albicastro’s place of origin. What is known for fact is that sometime after 1686 his name begins cropping up in the Netherlands on publications of trio sonata and concerto collections printed in Amsterdam and Bruges.

While details surrounding Albicastro’s background and training remain a mystery, it’s not difficult to surmise how a Swiss/Bavarian/Dutch musician living in the Netherlands in the first half of the 17th century morphed into an essentially Italian Baroque composer. Amsterdam was at that time an important center of the music publishing industry. Corelli’s famous set of 12 Concerti grossi, op. 6, saw their first printing there in 1714 by the firm of Etienne Roger. Nor was Corelli the only Italian composer whose works were being published in Amsterdam. In 1715, Roger printed Albinoni’s op. 7 Concertos; and even earlier, in 1711, Vivaldi sent his L’estro armonico directly to the same publishing house for printing. Albicastro had to have seen these scores and possibly have heard them performed. So thoroughly did he absorb the Italian style and manner that his own op. 7 heard on these discs is indistinguishable from the models he emulated.

Albicastro’s 12 Concerti a quattro occupy a kind of middle or transitional ground between the concerto grosso proper and the solo concerto formats. There is not the same formalized division between the solos or concertino group and the larger ripieno as one expects in a true concerto grosso. A solo violin-sometimes an oboe-is cast in the role of the contrasting or alternating concertino. These are not yet, however, full-blown solo concertos in the manner of Vivaldi. Albicastro’s approach seems to lie somewhere along the evolutionary path that led from the former to the latter.

If you are fond of Corelli and Vivaldi and everything in Italian concerted instrumental music in between, you will enjoy Albicastro’s concertos. They are energetic, bracing, buoyant, and full of that wonderful Italian cantabile melody that sings of Italy’s sun-drenched vineyards and eternal hills, even if they were written in flat, waterlogged Holland.

Readers who know of my general disinclination towards period instruments, especially in music written after circa 1760, will be pleased to know that the ensembles involved in these recordings exhibit none of the bad habits or eccentricities that are often associated with such performing bodies. Tempos are never too brisk; there is no swelling on notes or abrupt attenuations at ends of phrases and cadences; there is no astringency to the sound of the strings or nasality in the sound of the oboes. This is well-behaved and highly cultivated playing.

According to the insert, this is the first complete recording of Albicastro’s op. 7; and as far as I know it has remained the only one since it was set down nearly a decade ago. It is highly recommended and without reservations.

Jerry Dubins, Fanfare

Tartini: Concertos for Violin and Orchesta Vol.2 - Vashegyi

Giuseppe Tartini
Concertos for Violin and Orchesta Vol.2
László Paulik, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi
Hungaroton HCD 32234

Classics Today Rating: 10/10

At last, a disc of Tartini violin music that doesn't include the Devil's Trill sonata! (For some reason, that G minor work has been turning up a lot lately.) No, this is a group of concertos, and before the first has concluded you're wondering why (with all due respect) Vivaldi gets so much attention when music of this quality and inventiveness is around. One reason may be a question of quantity and historical misfortune: until recently dozens of Tartini's 200 known violin concertos were believed lost, but the four performed here were recently discovered "at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris." And since during his lifetime (1692-1770) Tartini was primarily known as a violinist (he led his own orchestra at Padova Cathedral) and author of both a theoretical work, Trattato di musica (treatise of music), and an important summary of violin pedagogy and technique (Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonar il violino), his compositions were not widely appreciated and disseminated as they should have been. In fact, because of Tartini's unsystematic manner of composing and publishing (or simply not publishing), it's now impossible to produce a reliable chronology of his compositions. Nevertheless, the music doesn't lie--and this is wonderful music, by any standard.

And what better advocate could this underrated and relatively neglected composer have than the brilliant virtuoso violinist László Paulik (the Andrew Manze of Hungary), who performs these often dazzling, technically fearsome, melodically beautiful pieces as if born to them? He spins ornaments--often just a lightning-quick little run or almost imperceptible turn or trill--as effortlessly as breathing. And they're never gratuitous--they always fit perfectly into the context of the line. The slow movement of the E major concerto is as lovely as any by Handel or Bach, and the most virtuosic passages are as demanding--and in Paulik's hands as satisfying--as any written by the period's more illustrious composers. Tartini knew nothing if not how to get the maximum out of a theme--and his thematic ideas were sufficiently fertile to produce a body of works that don't have that recurring ring of familiarity for which Vivaldi is somewhat justifiably maligned. Tartini had a habit of suspending the action with an extended violin cadenza (as at the end of the Andante of the F major concerto), and he'd lighten the orchestral texture to emphasize the melody (the beginning of the Allegro of the same work) and just as quickly follow with a tutti dance-style section--and then jump back to a double-stop-filled cadenza. And speaking of cadenzas, Paulik provides his own here, and each is a captivating bit of soloistic drama that demands repeated listening. Paulik's partners are fully in tune--in every respect--with the soloist and with Tartini's ingratiating scores. The sound is ideal--especially complementary to Paulik's soaring, singing tone and to the careful balances and clean articulation of the orchestra.

David Vernier, Classics Today.com

Tartini: Four Concertos for Violin and Orchesta - Vashegyi

Giuseppe Tartini
Four Concertos for Violin and Orchesta
László Paulik, Orfeo Orchestra, György Vashegyi
Hungaroton HCD 32045

There is great cause for celebration here with these two volumes of Tartin Violin Concertos. Recorded at the Hungaroton Studio in Budapest the first volume from 2001 comprises what are claimed to be première recordings of all four Concertos and the second volume from 2003 includes première recordings of the two Concertos, D 7 and D 20. It seems that the manuscripts of all eight scores were discovered at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and were edited for these recording sessions by the multi-talented György Vashegyi.

The Orfeo Chamber Orchestra are a period instrument chamber ensemble of around fourteen or fifteen players. They were founded in Budapest in 1991. Founder György Vashegyi directs from either harpsichord or organ.

Hungarian-born in 1966 violin soloist Paulik László studied at the prestigious Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. His study continued in Wien and under the tutelage of Simon Standage at the Academy of Early Music in Dresden. Whilst still a student at the Academy he was a founding member of the Concerto Armonico Chamber Orchestra and since 1992 has been Concertmaster of the Orfeo Chamber Orchestra. On these discs László wrote all the cadenzas on the first volume and that for the D 90 score on volume two.

Márta Katona in the Hungaroton booklet notes explains how Tartini’s Violin Concertos follow the established Vivaldian three movement design of Allegro-Adagio-Allegro. The central movement is usually presented in a contrasting key with the outer movements being based on the standard tutti-retornello arrangement, occasionally interrupted by a substantial solo passage.

Giuseppe Tartini, born in Pirano (now Piran) on the Adriatic in Italy (now Slovenia) in 1692 was preparing for a career in the priesthood and attended in 1709 the University of Padua where he studied theology, philosophy and literature. Following conflict with the church authorities over his marriage to a woman deemed unsuitable, Tartini was banished from Padua and fled to the Monastery of Assisi. There he studied music between 1711-14 with the famous Czech musician Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský and played violin in the orchestra at the Ancona Opera House. In 1721 in Padua, Tartini was appointed the first violin and maestro di cappella at the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua, a posting that he held for the rest of his life; apart from a short break. At Saint Anthony’s he was given the dispensation to play in other orchestras and was allowed some travel. Tartini did leave his post at the Basilica of Saint Anthony for three years to travel to Prague with the cellist Antonio Vandini and was involved with the Count Kinsky Orchestra where he remained until 1726. He was soon to return to Padua and the Basilica.

Tartini in 1728 established a violin school in Padua named the Scuolla delle Nazioni (School of the Nations), taking in students from all over Europe. His reputation as a composer spread to the Germany territories; France and England and throughout the remaining twenty years of his life he concentrated on his music treatises more than composition. Between the years 1739 to 1741 he visited many Italian cities including Naples and in Rome at the request of Pope Clement XII he composed a Miserere, for four, five, and eight voices, which was performed by the Sistine choir 1768. The prolific Tartini become one of the foremost Italian instrumental composers, writing over four hundred works, including mainly Violin Concertos; Sonatas and Trio Sonatas. A catalogue of Tartini’s concertos was created in 1935 by Greek musicologist Minos Dounias and catalogued according to tonality as there are very few actual composition dates available.

It is fascinating to see the progression of Tartini’s concerto model as he began to slowly extend the expressive possibilities of his music in terms of more sophisticated technique by cultivating the transition from the late-Baroque to the early developments of the Classical era. He returned later to a more austere conception of structure but still displaying a deepening of thought and an enrichment of expression.

Tartini broke little new ground in terms of great innovation but did make some advancements to the conventional concerto form, for example: a brief stanza at the start of the concerto; heightened use of ornamentation and increased technical virtuosity for the soloist became dominant features. Beside the solo violin passages he introduced a new ‘inaugural capriccio’ section in the Allegro movements to allow the soloist further opportunity to display technique.

Particularly successful are Tartini’s beautiful slow movements that frequently plumb real emotional depths, yet still maintain a reverential grace and dignity. The more I hear Tartini, especially in these recordings, the more I hold the view that, although, he does not have Vivaldi’s innate gift for melody he has a deeper soul.

I have not for some time enjoyed releases as much as these two. The interpretations from László using a Jahann Hentschl violin (c.1750) are of an exceptional standard with assured and expressive playing of purity and precision of intonation that at times takes the breath away. In the Allegros he displays astonishing virtuosity of great elegance with clean textures and articulation. I especially loved the heavenly sounds he displays and the high degree of emotional intensity in the contemplative and affecting Adagios. The sensitive support is impeccable displaying a wide spectrum of orchestral colours.

The presentation of these discs is first class including interesting and detailed annotation. This is complemented by crystal clear and immediate sound quality of demonstration standard. László is one of Hungary’s best kept secrets and he deserves to be heard by a wider audience. These discs take a treasured place in my collection.

Michael Cookson, MusicWeb International

Johann Sebastian Bach: Harpsichord Works - Trevor Pinnock

Johann Sebastian Bach
Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue, 3 Preludes & Fugues,
English Suite No.3, French Suite No.5
Trevor Pinnock
Archiv 435 795-2

In this programme of familiar Bach works the most captivating performance is that of the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue. Employing a harpsichord of magnificently rich sonority (by the American builder David Jacques Way "after Hemsch and others"), Pinnock gives this a dramatic reading, the declamation of the Fantasia brilliantly improvisatory in effect and the everstartling chromatic modulations savoured to the full, the Fugue relentlessly climbing and building up the tension to the end. The G minor English Suite and G major French Suite offer, besides Pinnock's engagingly vital rhythmic sense, some stylistic insights, particularly as regards doubledotting conventions and decorations on repeats— delightfully vivacious in the Courante of the English Suite and elaborately ornate in the Sarabande of the French Suite—which makes us hear these well-known movements with fresh ears.

With the preludes and fugues from the 48, however, we seem to see a different artist. Admittedly Bach designated them (at least the first book) as "for the use of young musicians desirous of learning", but here the preludes are played with dismaying objectivity and didacticism, almost dead straight without any concessions to shaping or to niceties of touch, phrasing or quasi-accentuation. Until its last line the C major is machine-like, the gracefully written E flat with its reflection of lutenist style is stiff, and astonishingly enough even the sighing motives of the galant F minor are coldly impassive. Fortunately amends are made with the liveliness of the E flat fugue and the sprightliness of that in F. The quality of the recording is excellent.

Lionel Salter, Gramophone Magazine

Hellendaal: 6 Concerti Grossi - Manze, ECBO, Roy Goodman

Pieter Hellendaal
6 Concerti Grossi
Manze, The European Community Baroque Orchestra, Goodman
Channel Classics CCS 3492

Pieter Hellendaal is one of those curiously elusive figures from the past, whose life, spent industriously in a musical backwater, left little impression on history, but whose surviving music, although modest in quantity, is of surprising quality. This is the first complete recording of his osagnificant Six Grand Concertos op. 3 (t75g), undoubtedly one of the finest sets of concerti grossi published in England during the eighteenth century, though surely one of the most unjustly neglected today. The son of a Rotterdam candle-maker, Ftellendaal's prodigious talents as a violinist were recognised at an early age when the Secretary of Amsterdam, Mattheus Lestevenon, sent bins (aged barely sixteen) to study in Italy with the virtuoso violinist and composer Guiseppe Tartium. After his return to Amsterdam in the early 1740's he published some of the fruits of his studies: two engaging sets of six sonatas for violin and continuo. He continued his studies at the University of Leiden between 1749 and 1751, playing at the frequent gatherings of music-loving academics to earn his living. A free-lance life-style playing in Leiden and at The Hague suited him for a while, but with apparently little prospect of a permanent position in his native country he emigrated to 'Little Holland' across the ocean sometime late in 1751. London newspapers of the time provide conspicious evidence that Hellendaal successfully pursued his career as a violinist in the capital for eight years, appearing frequently as a soloist in such prestigious concert venues as Hickford's Rooms on Brewer Street, and, as on 13 February 1754, playing solos between the acts of Handel's Aci.s and Ga/ateo. Towards the end of 1759 he travelled to Oxford where the local paper recorded that on 5 November "Mr. Hellendaal from London will lead the Concert and play a Solo on the Violin"....

ChannelClassics.com

Sammartini: Six Symphonies - Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon

Giovanni Battista Sammartini
Six Symphonies
Aradia Ensemble, Kevin Mallon
Naxos 8.557298

The younger of the two Sammartini brothers, Giovanni Battista spent the whole of his life in Milan where he produced a prodigious output of some 450 vocal and instrumental works, numbered 'J-C' after Jenkins and Churgin, who catalogued the output of the composer. His 67 surviving symphonies reflect the changes that took place as baroque techniques gave way to those associated with the classical. The six symphonies heard on this disc range in style and scoring from the early works for strings and continuo, including the C minor, J-C 9, with its dramatic first movement, to those of clear pre-classical form (J-C 62 and J-C 4) from around 1750, which include prominent parts for horns and trumpets.